Crazy language learning experiments

General discussion about learning languages
rpg
Orange Belt
Posts: 153
Joined: Fri Jul 21, 2017 2:21 pm
Languages: English (N), Spanish (B2), French (B2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=8368
x 466

Crazy language learning experiments

Postby rpg » Fri May 21, 2021 3:16 am

I'm interested in hearing about crazy language learning experiments people have tried over the years, and as I wasn't around in the HTLAL days I thought I'd turn to the collective wisdom of these forums.

By "crazy" I mean methods that are unusual, unexpected, and/or possibly a little extreme. Here are some examples that immediately come to mind:


The L-R method as originally intended would also fall into this bucket, though I'm not sure if there any logs of anyone actually attempting this (doing many long sessions as a complete beginner).

I'm starting this thread because I was thinking in the shower how one could try to marathon Pimsleur; a language with a 5-level course would have 150 half-hour lessons = 75 hours, and one could conceivably try to blitz through these back to back in some compressed time period (like a week or two). Has anyone ever tried anything like that?
11 x
Super challenge 2020/21
French reading: 4534 / 5000      Spanish reading: 81 / 5000
French movies: 115 / 150       Spanish movies: 98 / 150

User avatar
jeff_lindqvist
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3135
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:52 pm
Languages: sv, en
de, es
ga, eo
---
fi, yue, ro, tp, cy, kw, pt, sk
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2773
x 10462

Re: Crazy language learning experiments

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Fri May 21, 2021 7:23 am

There's more in HTLAL vs. LLORG. Also Assimil Hebrew in two weeks (link somewhere in that thread).

I know I went through FSI German vol 1 and 2 (24 units in total) in just two weeks many years ago...
11 x
Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
Duolingo - finished trees: sp/ga/de/fr/pt/it
Finnish with extra pain : 100 / 100

Llorg Blog - Wiki - Discord

Ug_Caveman
Green Belt
Posts: 460
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2018 2:58 am
Location: England
Languages: English (N), Dutch (A2 - July 2021), working towards B1
x 1075

Re: Crazy language learning experiments

Postby Ug_Caveman » Fri May 21, 2021 1:35 pm

I don't know if it qualifies as "crazy" or "extreme" - but I have a goal of reaching B2 in Dutch in two years while also reaching B1 in French, Spanish and Italian from scratch.

Given I have a life outside language learning (likely to include studying for a master's degree part time) I imagine it shall be quite a task.
1 x
Languages: English (N), Dutch (passed A2 exam in May 2021, failed B1 in May 2023 - never sit an exam when you have food poisoning!)

Seeking: Linguaphone Polish and Linguaphone Afrikaans

User avatar
Le Baron
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3505
Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2021 5:14 pm
Location: Koude kikkerland
Languages: English (N), fr, nl, de, eo, Sranantongo,
Maintaining: es, swahili.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=18796
x 9384

Re: Crazy language learning experiments

Postby Le Baron » Fri May 21, 2021 3:17 pm

Ug_Caveman wrote:I don't know if it qualifies as "crazy" or "extreme" - but I have a goal of reaching B2 in Dutch in two years while also reaching B1 in French, Spanish and Italian from scratch.

Given I have a life outside language learning (likely to include studying for a master's degree part time) I imagine it shall be quite a task.


I see you're still awaiting notification of the A2 results; how do you think you did? Or is that tempting fate? Two years doesn't seem like an unreasonable time-frame, though balancing it with French, Spanish, Italian will surely drain away some effort.

I've observed (In Belgium, Germany and here in NL) that it takes about +/- 2 years for immigrants to get properly functional in the language. Though this is with it hitting you in the face day-after-day. Obviously people on this forum are very motivated and no doubt work hard to find the best route. I've never actually learned a language without having been in a situation where I'll be forced to use it and preferably speaking. The only exception is Esperanto.

However that's not the subject of this thread.
0 x

Beli Tsar
Green Belt
Posts: 384
Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2018 3:59 pm
Languages: English (N), Ancient Greek (intermediate reading), Latin (Beginner) Farsi (Beginner), Biblical Hebrew (Beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9548
x 1294

Re: Crazy language learning experiments

Postby Beli Tsar » Fri May 21, 2021 3:23 pm

jeff_lindqvist wrote:I know I went through FSI German vol 1 and 2 (24 units in total) in just two weeks many years ago...

I missed that - how did it work out?
0 x
: 0 / 50 1/2 Super Challenge - Latin Reading
: 0 / 50 1/2 Super Challenge - Latin 'Films'

User avatar
Le Baron
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3505
Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2021 5:14 pm
Location: Koude kikkerland
Languages: English (N), fr, nl, de, eo, Sranantongo,
Maintaining: es, swahili.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=18796
x 9384

Re: Crazy language learning experiments

Postby Le Baron » Fri May 21, 2021 3:38 pm

I have tried 'crazy' approaches, mostly in my youth, and that they've largely failed. Perhaps not entirely failed, but they haven't produced the result I envisaged at the time.

At about 15-16 I had a piano teacher who knew Russian and it sparked an interest. So I started hammering my way through Hugo's Russian in Three Months from the library. After rocketing quickly through the first three lessons and getting emboldened, I revised my plan with the aim of condensing it into one month, then repeating the course for another month. I also had a little pile of borrowed Russian books like Turgenev's Отцы и дети, which I'd already read in English and a French easy reader version. So I fancied myself as 'equipped' for this task.

I persuaded the piano teacher to speak to me in Russian. For some reason it didn't work out. I learned a decent number of words, but found the grammar difficult and exhausting. Never read Отцы и дети in Russian, though I did scrape through most of the slim 1960s volume of Teach Yourself Russian Through Reading. After 6 months I let it slide.

The good outcome: I can recognise Russian script for reading pretty much easily. Bad outcome: I can't speak Russian, can't compose writing in Russian beyond a rudimentary sentence (and even then it will be wrong); can't watch Russian films without subtitles; Russian news might as well be in Klingon apart from the words I can pick out.
1 x

Ug_Caveman
Green Belt
Posts: 460
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2018 2:58 am
Location: England
Languages: English (N), Dutch (A2 - July 2021), working towards B1
x 1075

Re: Crazy language learning experiments

Postby Ug_Caveman » Fri May 21, 2021 4:12 pm

Le Baron wrote:I see you're still awaiting notification of the A2 results; how do you think you did? Or is that tempting fate? Two years doesn't seem like an unreasonable time-frame, though balancing it with French, Spanish, Italian will surely drain away some effort.


As I understand it the papers are likely still in the UK - they get sent to KUL in Belgium to be marked in June, results communicated in July. I was very happy with the listening section, the speaking section is likely where I dropped the most marks. I felt happy leaving the examination, but I honestly have zero experience with which to compare it since my disastrous French GCSE (where I left every exam feeling awful and like a failure - but that was a decade ago.) I'm going to return to active study soon with the intention of getting to B1 by this time next year.

At the same time I'm trying to work out a method whereby I could study Spanish and Italian together without royally messing them up (French doesn't seem to present an issue for either) :P I guess that's where I might need to get slightly crazy in methodology :lol: I probably won't take that particularly seriously until I really am happy with my Dutch level though.

One thing I'm considering is extensive passive knowledge acquisition in both for a long period of time before even trying to develop active skills, so I'm comfortably able to distinguish the two.

And if I have to drop it (all bar Dutch) because work and study become too intense, those take priority.
1 x
Languages: English (N), Dutch (passed A2 exam in May 2021, failed B1 in May 2023 - never sit an exam when you have food poisoning!)

Seeking: Linguaphone Polish and Linguaphone Afrikaans

User avatar
einzelne
Blue Belt
Posts: 804
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2018 11:33 pm
Languages: Russan (N), English (Working knowledge), French (Reading), German (Reading), Italian (Reading on Kindle)
x 2882

Re: Crazy language learning experiments

Postby einzelne » Fri May 21, 2021 4:21 pm

What do you mean by 'crazy'? 'Crazy' like 'insanely time consuming but effective' or more like 'people do weird stuff on the internet'? Your examples demonstrate both.

Learning 5 languages at a time is definitely crazy and a spectacular waste of time while there's nothing crazy about developing passive skills only. In fact it's the wisest decision you can make, if you're an adult who is just interested in a language and don't have plans to move to the country of your L2.

And spending 1000 hours with a language — what's so crazy about it? If you're serious about learning, it's nothing. It's just 3 hours per day durning a year. It's not even enough to develop advanced passive skills.
4 x

User avatar
Deinonysus
Brown Belt
Posts: 1216
Joined: Tue Sep 13, 2016 6:06 pm
Location: MA, USA
Languages:  
• Native: English
• Advanced: French
• Intermediate: German,
   Spanish, Hebrew
• Beginner: Italian,
   Arabic
x 4620

Re: Crazy language learning experiments

Postby Deinonysus » Fri May 21, 2021 5:02 pm

I would say: wanting to learn Modern Hebrew but deciding that I'd prefer to learn Arabic and then Biblical Hebrew first, despite the fact that my parents speak native-level Modern Hebrew and I had a lot of exposure as a child so I could probably get to a decent level pretty quickly if I weren't so stubborn.

Studying Inuktitut might count as a crazy learning experiment too.
0 x
/daɪ.nə.ˈnaɪ.səs/

User avatar
einzelne
Blue Belt
Posts: 804
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2018 11:33 pm
Languages: Russan (N), English (Working knowledge), French (Reading), German (Reading), Italian (Reading on Kindle)
x 2882

Re: Crazy language learning experiments

Postby einzelne » Fri May 21, 2021 5:13 pm

But I guess at the end of the day nobody will be able to beat Philip K. Dick in his crazy 'Latin learning experiment':

Scene from Philip K. Dick’s novel “Maze of Death”. According to him, this is a detailed and 100% accurate description of his most intense LSD trip. During this experience he allegedly started speaking out loud religious phrases in perfect Latin even though he had never studied this language in his entire life. (link)


Warning: Don't Try This at Home.
1 x


Return to “General Language Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: iguanamon, Zomxilla and 2 guests